Comments (7)

It is a bit of a stretch to call Rutgers vs. Washington a big game. While Washington is rapidly improving under Chris Peterson, Rutgers is showing that it does not belong in the Big Ten and has worsened in each of its first 2 years with another pitiful 1-7 conference record in 2016 likely. With their huge athletic department deficit, Rutgers would be better off going back to the lower tier program that they were for their first 100 years. You can expect them to be blown out against just about every quality team that they play. The Big 10’s play for the northeast TV market may just backfire on them when Rutgers and Maryland to a lesser extent show that they are simply not competitive.

Now that Rutgers has been accepted into one of the best conferences in all of college sports, they can now justify to their board of governors paying their coaches and assistants close to what other Power 5 conferences pay. This was never the case before. They will soon show, with the help of new coach Chris Ash and his staff, that they can compete with anyone and may become a powerhouse due to the fertile local talent in the New Jersey/New York area. Great move by the Big10. Maryland too.

Just because Rutgers was admitted to the Big 10 is no guarantee that they will be anything more than a punching bad for the elite teams. Their 120 years of football futility is a strong indication that their total irrelevancy in college football will continue. They should lose at least 4 games by 3-8 touchdowns in 2016 starting in Seattle on Labor day weekend. They should be able to compete with Indiana, Maryland, Purdue and Illinois for 10th place in a couple of years. Their athletic department losses cannot be sustained even with a big money check from the Big 10. The truth hurts but facts don’t lie. Outside of Penn State, the northeast and New England is not serious college football country